Charging Interrupted Errors; dealership not providing loaner

[Cdalgleish]

About two months ago, I was driving around SF with my mom running wedding errands, which included picking up several hundred dollars worth of flowers from the SF flower mart. I live in Santa Cruz, about 80 miles away, so I had plugged my car in to charge at a public station so I could drive home. Get back to the car (buckets of flowers in tow!), car not charged. Try again...get error messages. Try three other charging stations...error messages. I made it to a dealer on the peninsula (Toyota 101) who agreed to give me a loaner so I can get back to Santa Cruz. I'm not sure if this dealer's loaner policy is more friendly, or if the manager was giving me a break because I was in tears with buckets of wilting flowers

The car was at the shop for almost two weeks while they diagnosed it. The service department had a lot of issues, and apparently had to have Tesla engineers out twice before the problem was solved. Unfortunately, no one I spoke with could tell me what the problem was, and the engineers were not available to take phone calls.

I got married (yay!) up in Tahoe, so drove our gas car for the next week.

When I got back home, I tried driving the Rav, and it was still not holding a charge. I drove from Santa Cruz to Stevens Creek Toyota (there are no EV approved dealers in Santa Cruz), and told them it was still having the same problem. They refused to give me a loaner, and required me to rent one of their "courtesy cars" at a rate of $45 per day. I argued with them for over an hour, called Toyota Customer Care, etc but was told I had to pay for the car. I was out of options--my car didn't have enough charge to get home, and I was leaving for Indonesia the next morning, so I signed the paperwork for the rental.

It took them 3 days to fix it (at $45/ day for a "courtesy car"). According to the paperwork, the problem was that the previous dealer had reset something to a factory setting which overrode my ability to charge it. I was told that it was not a warranty issue. Sounds unlikely to me, but I was out of the country anyway and I had my mom pick up the Rav.

I just got back from a month of traveling, and after running errands today--surprise--the car is still not taking a charge. In the last hour, I've received 11 "Interrupted Charge" notices to my email from Entune. I need to go back to work tomorrow and don't have a drivable car.

Is there anyone I can talk to at Toyota who can escalate this issue at the dealership for me? I can understand that this is new technology, and issues arise, but I think it's absurd that I have to pay for a rental car when my NEW, warrantied car is having a repeated issue that Toyota cannot resolve. Not only that, but they are WAAAY overcharging for their crappy rental car! And my 45 minute commute turns into a 1.5 hour commute each way. So bummed.

 

[TonyWilliams]

Keep all your receipts and contact Kevin_Spillane (((at))) Toyota daughter com

Here's his phone:

Kevin
310-974-7545

 

[Dsinned]

Basically, if your car won't charge, it is worthless and analogous to an ICE that won't start. That should be pretty high on the list of "under warranty" repairs and warrant (no pun intended) a FREE rental car.

Is the reason you took it back to Stevens Creek Toyota, because that is the dealer where you purchased the car? I would have been inclined to take it back to the other dealer where you first had the car "repaired", and insisted on talking to the head honcho in charge of the Service Dept about being authorized (again) to have a free rental car.

Also, In CA I think after 30 days at the same dealer without being able to repair the car for the same problem, Toyota can be legally forced to buy back the car under the Lemon Law, but I do not know if that means you have to it under repair only at the dealer where you purchased the car.

What I find particularly distressing in this situation (and sadly, this is not the first time this has happened) is the refusal to allow you to speak to the Tesla Engineer(s) who were brought in to conduct the actual repair. How cowardly! Obviously, as so-called "Engineers" they did not do a very good job of problem solving, and so they should be held accountable and no better way than to be confronted by the customer (in the presence of the dealership's Service Manager).

Such horrendously bad customer service relations is simply beyond belief, but it speaks volumes as to the seemingly horrible relationship that presently must exist between Toyota and Tesla.

 

[cossie1600]

Don;t want to sound harsh, but you might want to read the book and throw page 9 of the warranty manual to them

We realize that your confidence in
the quality and reliability of our
products was a key factor in
your decision to buy a Toyota. We also
know how disruptive the loss of
transportation can be to your daily routine.
That’s why we’re pleased to offer you the
benefits of our Transportation Assistance
Policy.
Under this policy, you are eligible for
transportation assistance if your Toyota
must be kept overnight for
warranty-covered repairs. The policy
applies when your vehicle must be kept
overnight for any of the following reasons:
• The warranty repairs will take longer
than one day to complete.
• The warrantable condition requires
extensive diagnosis.
• The parts needed for the warranty
repairs are not readily available and
your vehicle is inoperative or unsafe
to drive.
The policy does not apply when warranty
repairs can be completed in one day but
the vehicle must be kept overnight due to
dealer or owner scheduling conflicts.
The Transportation Assistance Policy
applies for the duration of the New Vehicle
Limited Warranty. The policy applies to all
2013 model-year Toyotas sold and
serviced by authorized Toyota dealerships
in the mainland United States and Alaska.
For further details, please consult your
Toyota deale

 

[branstone]

the problem with this "Page 9" is

the dealer told him - "I was told that it was not a warranty issue"

so while you can dispute this , and actually it appears to be fault of the other dealer ( which i would think would allow for a free loaner ) it does not apply to this "Page 9" dealing with warranty repair.

I have never had a problem with SCT. i did bring in my ev once for an issue , i wanted a loaner because i had to go to work.
I was told until they diagnose the problem they can't guarantee that the loaner would be free ( if it was not a warranty related issue )

In the end it was, and i did not have to pay.